A predator drove around the streets of south-west London late at night following buses to stalk young women and then kill them, a court heard yesterday.

Over a three-year period, Levi Bellfield, 39, a former nightclub doorman, battered two students to death and carried out brutal attacks on three others, leaving two with serious injuries, it was alleged.

Marsha McDonnell, 19, a gap-year student, was killed within sight of her home in Hampton, west London, in February 2003. A year later, in August 2004, Amelie Delagrange, 22, a French student, was murdered as she took a short cut across a cricket pitch in Twickenham. Both were young, fair-haired and slim. Both were beaten about the head with a blunt instrument.

Mr Bellfield tried to kill Kate Sheedy, 18, and Irma Dragoshi, 33, within five months of each other, an Old Bailey jury was told. He attempted to abduct Anna-Maria Rennie, 17, but despite being "petrified" she escaped.

Brian Altman, prosecuting, told the jury they were dealing with five separate offences between October 2001 and August 2004. "Five women, four of them aged between 17 and 22 were brutally attacked," he said.

The chances of their being committed by two or more men working independently could "safely and sensibly" be rejected. "They share similar features which we submit a pattern emerges: the assailant using a vehicle in the hours of darkness to locate and target lone females who he then attacks."

Mr Altman described the similarities between the "senseless and violent" attack on Ms McDonnell and the attempted murder of Ms Sheedy a year later, in May 2004. Both were followed after alighting from well-lit buses, which, although intended for passengers' benefit, would have the "more sinister" purpose of allowing those outside to see them clearly.

"These were not the victims of a random attacker. These were the targeted victims of a predatory man who stalked bus stops and bus routes in vehicles looking for young women to attack," Mr Altman said.

The cars were of "critical importance", he said. Three of the attacks, on Ms McDonnell, Ms Sheedy and Ms Delagrange, were linked by the presence of vehicles linked to Bellfield. These were a silver Vauxhall Corsa, a white Toyota Previa people carrier and a white Ford courier van.

The silver Corsa which followed Ms McDonnell behaved in an "unnatural manner", slowing down and stopping as it approached the 111 bus from which she was about to alight, Mr Altman said. It was "identical" to the behaviour of the people carrier which ran over Ms Sheedy after she got off a bus in Isleworth.

Mr Altman said there was direct evidence linking Mr Bellfield to the attacks on Ms Rennie in 2001 and Ms Dragoshi in 2003 and "compelling" circumstantial evidence linking him to the other three crimes.

Ms Rennie, who was Mr Bellfield's first victim according to the prosecution, was attacked after she refused his offer of a lift as she sat at a bus stop in Twickenham. He is accused of grabbing her, lifting her off the ground and trying to drag her into the car, although she managed to escape.

"Naturally, she was extremely scared. As he tried to get her to the car, she kicked and struggled violently," he said. Ms Rennie, who now lives in France, identified Mr Bellfield after police reinvestigated her case when he was arrested.

Ten months after Ms McDonnell was murdered, he attacked Ms Dragoshi as she stood at a bus stop in Longford Village, west London, leaving her with amnesia about the attack, the court was told.

Sunil Gharu, a friend and associate of Mr Bellfield, said he had seen him run out of the car and attack Ms Dragoshi at a bus stop, the jury heard. After his arrest Mr Bellfield attempted to "turn the tables" on Mr Gharu, claiming he had carried out the attack.

Mr Bellfield, from West Drayton, west London, denies murdering Ms Delagrange and Ms McDonnell. He also denies the attempted murder of Ms Sheedy, the attempted murder of Ms Dragoshi and causing her grievous bodily harm with intent, and the kidnap and false imprisonment of Ms Rennie in October 2003.